ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

Meal Planning Tips for Healthy Eating

Updated on March 12, 2011

Are you looking for a way to improve your family's eating habits? Taking the time to plan meals ahead of time can have an impact on the quality of meals that you and your loved ones eat. After all, making last minute decisions about what to have for dinner (or any other meal) can lead to poor decisions that result in unhealthy dining choices.

When dinnertime is right around the corner and you haven't planned ahead, it's all too easy to go run through a fast food drive-thru on your way home from work or order a pizza for delivery if you're already in the house. It'll be much easier to make wise, healthful dining decisions when your refrigerator and pantry are stocked with healthy food items that you can have on the table quickly.

4 Meal Planning Tips for Healthy Eating

1. Establish a Weekly Menu – Sit down once a week think about what meals you'd like to prepare and serve over the upcoming days. It's a good idea to do this on the day that the supermarket sale circulars are published so that you can take advantage of items that are on sale. When engaging in menu planning, consider what types of foods are on special, what dishes your family enjoys, nutritional and diet considerations, and what your schedule is likely to be like for the upcoming week. Use that information to establish a realistic menu plan.

2. Use a Grocery List – Have you ever had the experience of going to the supermarket, purchasing several items, and arriving home only to find that you don't have the correct ingredients to prepare a healthy meal? This often happens when people go grocery shopping without the benefit of a list. Before leaving home, put together your menu for the upcoming week. Take stock of what ingredients you have on hand and which ones you need to purchase. Use this information to make a shopping list and follow it carefully when you are in the store.

3. Plan for Leftovers – The next time you cook dinner, think beyond the next meal that you will be eating. Instead, plan for leftovers so that you can enjoy several meals as a result of your efforts in the kitchen. For example, if you are making spaghetti for dinner, prepare extra sauce that you can combine with pasta and vegetables for an Italian casserole later in the week. Many people find it beneficial to prepare several dishes that reheat well one evening or afternoon each week. Instead of stressing about what's for dinner and having to cook every night, you can serve the items that you've cooked ahead of time.

4. Rely on Your Freezer – When you set aside time to cook, in addition to preparing enough food for the current week, consider preparing enough to freeze and enjoy at a later date. Many types of foods freeze well, including marinara sauce, vegetable soup, many types of casseroles, baked goods, and more. See Easy Meals that Freeze Well for a few recipe ideas. No matter how carefully you intend to plan, there will be times that you just aren't able to do so effectively. If you have a few home cooked meals stored in your freezer, you'll be able to enjoy a healthy nutritional meal at home even if something goes wrong with your planning efforts.

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)